A Russian politician who was jailed by Vladimir Putin for opposing the war in Ukraine has described how he is now being frozen to death in a jail from hell.
Councillor and lawyer Alexei Gorinov, 60, came to international attention when supporters stood and cheered him as he was jailed for almost seven years in a draconian sentence.
He was jailed in July for spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian army while he defiantly stood in the dock and warned of a return to the horrors of Stalin while demanding Putin end his war in Ukraine.
But he has now become ill in the icy conditions in jail in Vladimir region after being denied treatment by doctors for his rapidly worsening condition, his lawyers and supporters warn.
His allies claim that he is being deliberately frozen to death as punishment for defying Putin.
“He now has a high fever, persistent cough and shortness of breath,” they said in a statement.
“He told his lawyers that he would not last even six months in prison.”
He was suffering “cold, hunger, lack of hot water and inability to lie down until lights out”.
The harsh low temperatures in jail were a constant source of discomfort and he had not been able to sleep normally since driving at the jail after his sentence, due to the appalling conditions, he said.
Meanwhile his lawyers were denied a meeting with the prison warden to discuss his health concerns.
Gorinov was originally detained in March after calling for the war to end and Russian troops to come home.
A video from his sentencing hearing in July shows how he was cheered as his harsh sentence was read out by a judge in one of the most striking displays of dissent by Russians during the war.
The protesters were watched by armed OMON troops, the feared “black berets” tasked with quashing dissent, who were unable to stop the defiance.
He held up a sign that read “Do you still need this war?”
In his closing statement in court, Gorinov said Putin’s war was the “dirtiest, vile thing, unworthy of … man.”
He said: “I thought that Russia had exhausted its limit on wars back in the 20th century.
“However, our present is Bucha, Irpin, and Hostomel.
“Do these names mean something to you?
“You, the accusers – take an interest and do not say later that you did not know anything.”
He told the court: “I am convinced of this: war is the fastest means of dehumanisation, when the line between good and evil is blurred.
“War is always violence and blood, torn bodies and severed limbs.
“It is always death. I don't accept it and reject it.”
He told Putin: “We are promised victory and glory.
“Why, then, do so many of my fellow citizens feel shame and guilt? Why did many people leave Russia and continue to leave? And why did our country suddenly have so many enemies?”
His grandfather had been denounced under Stalin but was rehabilitated half a century later.
"I hope my recovery will take much less time,” he said.
The Russian authorities were “destroying families, breaking the lives of young people”.
